background: cardiovascular disease is an important non-obstetric cause of maternal and fetal /neonatal morbidity and mortality during pregnancy. for a pregnant woman with cardiac disease, the potential inability of the maternal cardiovascular system to contend with normal pregnancy-induced physiologic changes may produce deleterious effects on both mother and fetus. to determine the most freque...

A 64-year-old man was admitted for evaluation of back pain. He did not have a Marfan syndrome (MFS)-like appearance, and had a history of a type B aortic dissection and total arch replacement. A connective tissue disorder had been suspected because of the histologic findings of the resected aortic wall. On admission, a computed tomography (CT) scan demonstrated a three-channeled aortic dissecti...

The aortic root of a 30-year-old man was replaced with a Freestyle stentless aortic bioprosthesis for aortic regurgitation associated with annuloaortic ectasia. His clinical course was uneventful, and he was discharged without complications. Three years and six months after surgery, he presented with a high fever. Four years after surgery, transthoracic echocardiography revealed severe aortic r...

(2) Is the risk of proximal dissection high enough to warrant prophylactic repair before clinically significant aortic insufficiency occurs? (3) If surgery is not warranted now, what indication should be used to determine appropriate timing of surgery (ie, aortic regurgitation by clinical examination, symptomatic aortic regurgitation, signs of congestive heart failure)? (4) How common is a type...

BACKGROUND Balloon aortic valvuloplasty (BAV) is a percutaneous treatment option for severe, symptomatic aortic stenosis. Due to early restenosis and failure to improve long term survival, BAV is considered a palliative measure in patients who are not suitable for open heart surgery due to increased perioperative risk. BAV can be used also as a bridge to surgical or transcatheter aortic valve i...

The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery • Volume 123, Number 2 369 I n surgery for acute aortic dissection, the choice of appropriate arterial access for cardiopulmonary bypass is sometimes difficult because of dissection in large branches of the aorta. We report the efficacy of transapical aortic cannulation in acute type A aortic dissection in a patient with diffuse atherosclerotic...

Aortic valve disease is a fatal disease with but a single cure. Removal of the mechanical obstruction in aortic stenosis (surgery or TAVI) and replacement of an incompetent valve (so far only surgery) are the only treatment options. While aortic valve replacement in patients with isolated valve disease and normal pumpfunction of the heart has become a routine procedure and is performed with exc...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate long term results and independent predictors of outcome of aortic valvoplasty. DESIGN Retrospective follow up study. Independent predictors of outcome identified by multiple logistic regression. SETTING Tertiary referral centre. PATIENTS 269 consecutive patients treated at the median age of 8 months (0-23 years): 80 (30%) under 4 weeks, 59 (22%) between 4 weeks and 1...

Aortic surgery frequently extends the boundaries of perfusion knowledge learned from non aortic cardiac surgery.This is due to the extremes of temperature, prolonged bypass times, hypothermic arrest, and selective organ(s) perfusion. Suboptimal perfusion can potentially affect outcomes even after technically successful aortic surgery. We present the concepts of patient directed bypass with rega...

The manuscript published by Carrascal et al. in this issue of Revista Clínica Española reports outcomes and evaluates risk factors affecting mortality following surgical aortic valve replacement in octogenarians. This publication is a welcome addition to the emerging literature on the subject and is particularly unique as it is the largest Spanish series of octogenarians undergoing isolated and...